What Once Was Lost
by Kristen Elizabeth
Summary: Secrets and lies come to the surface...at a time when they're needed the most. (Story 4 of 6)


Disclaimer: **Extracts Standard Disclaimer stamp from drawer...dips in ink...slams onto story, thus branding it with the words NOT MINE...sets stamp down and goes on with life.**  
  
Author's Notes: I spent a lot of time on the Web MD at Lycos, looking up medical info for this story so I hope it's not too inaccurate. This is the fourth story in my "Family Life" series, coming after "In A Family Way", "Ashes In the Valley" and "Baby Mine". I hope you enjoy it and thanks to everyone who has reviewed thus far!  
  
Dedication: To my parents who were with me through initial diagnosis, one open heart surgery, a subsequent surgery and more echocardiograms, sonograms, x-rays, shots and trips to the hospital than can possibly be counted. This is your story and I am nothing without you.   
  
****  
  
What Once Was Lost  
by Kristen Elizabeth  
  
****  
  
After Colony 211  
The former Sanq Kingdom  
Earth  
  
"Mmm...yes...oh god...."  
  
"Like that, do you?"  
  
"You know...know that I do", was the breathless reply. "Just like that...Zechs..."  
  
Millardo Peacecraft nuzzled his wife's ear. His hand moved under the covers with growing intensity. "I really..." He moved his lips down to her smooth neck. "...*really* like it when you call me that..."  
  
Lucrezia Noin-Peacecraft smiled in pure pleasure. "But just me, right?" Her nails scratched his back as his experienced fingers continued their early morning explorations.   
  
"Just you." He pulled her closer to his body. "Just you, Lu."  
  
Noin closed her eyes as he played her body like a delicate instrument. "Do we have time to...to do this?"  
  
In response, he gave her a long, lingering kiss. "We've got all the time in the..."  
  
~Bzzzzz~  
  
Under the covers, his hand stopped as the alarm clock announced the time. Six thirty AM. Noin laid her head on her husband's shoulder. "Shit", she whispered. "I didn't want today to come."  
  
"Just us, right?"   
  
Her hand slapped his away from her body. "Bad, bad, bad", she chastised him. Giving him another kiss, she wiggled away from his grasp and stood up. "Last one to the shower gets to make coffee."   
  
Millardo flopped back against his pillow. "It's six thirty. Heero's been up for an hour already. Coffee's made."   
  
"All right then." Noin lifted her slinky nightgown over her head. "You can get Celeste up and ready."   
  
He reached for his wife's bare thigh, but she was quick and stepped out of the way. "Fine", he gave in, flipping off the covers. "But you know...we could conserve water and..."  
  
"Later", she promised him. "After today is over."   
  
Millardo reached for a shirt and pulled it on along with the pajama bottoms that had been discarded when he woke up looking forward to an early morning tryst with his wife. Yawning, he padded down the hallway towards his daughter's room.   
  
Four year old Celeste was wide awake when he entered her room. Sitting up bed, she had her dolls spread around her and was telling them a highly elaborated version of Cinderella. Millardo listened for a minute before making his presence known. "Princess...time to get up and ready to go."   
  
Celeste's blue eyes that so perfectly matched his lit up at seeing her father. "Daddy!" She allowed him to pick her up from the bed and gave him a peck on his stubbled cheek. "Where are we going, Daddy?"   
  
With his free hand, he brushed a strand of his daughter's white-blond hair off her forehead. "Well...we're going to the hospital again, princess. Remember?"   
  
The eyes that had shone a moment earlier became a shade darker. "I don't want to go."   
  
"I know. I don't want to go either. But..." He kissed her forehead. "You were such a good girl the last time. I know you will be again."   
  
Celeste looked down at the doll still in her hand. "Will they give me a shot? Shots hurt."   
  
Millardo hesitated. "I don't know, baby. I think they might. And they'll probably take some more blood and give you some donated blood. Remember when they did that? They need to run some tests, that's all I know."   
  
"It hurts when they do that, Daddy." Celeste sniffed. "How come Ben and 'Toria never have to go to the hospital?"   
  
"Because they're your Uncle Heero's kids. Indestructible." Millardo ran his fingers through her hair again. "But you're special, Celeste."   
  
"I'm sick, Daddy", Celeste said with the wisdom that only comes to the innocent.   
  
He swallowed heavily. "That's why you go to the hospital, baby. So you won't be sick anymore."   
  
The answer seemed to satisfy her. She held up her doll. "Can Miss Betty come with me?"  
  
"Miss Betty, Miss Ana...anyone you want, princess. How about we go down and get some breakfast before getting you dressed?"  
  
Celeste's nose wrinkled up. "Did Uncle Heero make breakfast?"   
  
"If he did, we'll get doughnuts on the way to the hospital."   
  
"Pinky swear?"  
  
Millardo hooked his pinky around his daughter's much smaller digit. "Pinky swear."   
  
****  
  
"Doughnuts!", was the first thing out of Celeste's mouth as Millardo carried her into the kitchen. Heero Yuy was at the counter, prying burned bread out of the toaster with a spatula. "Thank you, Uncle Heero!"  
  
Her uncle glared at Millardo and handed a piece of toast to his six year old son, Benjamin. "You're all up early", he commented.   
  
Millardo set Celeste into a seat at the kitchen table next to her cousin. "Doctor's appointment day", he said, walking back to the fridge to retrieve the orange juice.   
  
"We're getting doughnuts", Celeste confided to Ben.   
  
Ben bit into his toast and promptly took the bite out of his mouth. "Can I go to the hospital with Celeste?", he asked his father.   
  
"Sure you can", his mother, Relena Peacecraft-Yuy replied, walking into the kitchen with her younger daughter, Victoria, on her hip. "You haven't had a good shot in awhile." Ben put the piece of black toast back into his mouth and chewed in silence.   
  
Relena handed three and a half year old Victoria to her father and took over breakfast preperations. "How long do you think you'll be at the hospital?", she asked her brother.   
  
"Tough to say. Longer than usual, I think. The doctor mentioned something about additional tests now that she's older." Millardo poured a cup of juice for his daughter. "Don't expect us for dinner."   
  
"I just ask because today is Abigail's fourteenth birthday. We're all going to call L2 during her party to wish her a happy birthday. I hate that Celeste has to miss that." Relena looked back at her niece who was helping Ben take apart his breakfast. *You can't even tell by looking at her*, she thought. *You can't tell that there's so much sickness in her body.*  
  
Millardo gave the juice to Celeste along with her daily medication. "She'll see Duo's family in a few weeks."   
  
Heero snatched the plate with the burnt, now crumbled toast away from his son and replaced it with the fresh toast Relena took from the toaster. "Eat up, kid. You've got school in an hour."   
  
Ben made a face, but quickly dropped it when he caught Heero's look. "When is everyone coming to Earth?", he mumbled around a mouthful. "Thomas is gonna show me how to play Mortal Death IV!"   
  
"Oh no he's not", Relena informed her son. She looked at Heero. "I can't believe Duo bought his ten year old son that game."   
  
Heero shrugged and handed a slice of toast to Victoria. "It's good combat practice."   
  
"And our *six* year old son would need combat practice...why?"   
  
Millardo tuned out their discussion as he watched Celeste drink her juice and dutifully swallow a dozen pills. What he had failed to tell his sister was that today would be a major hurdle in his daughter's already hurdle-filled life. Today would be the day they would learn whether the medications she was currently taking were enough to keep her tiny body producing red blood cells...or if something much more drastic would need to be explored as an option.   
  
Celeste finished taking her pills and drank the rest of her juice. She looked back at him and smiled her mother's smile. In that instant he knew he would do anything within his power to see that smile for the rest of his life.  
  
****  
  
"Okay, Celeste. This is going to hurt, but I promise it will only be for a minute." The doctor took a hypodermic needle from his nurse. Before the little girl had time to react, he swiped an alcohol-drenched cotton swab over her inner elbow and slid the needle into her skin.   
  
Millardo felt his daughter's small hand tighten around his. Her other hand was entwined with Noin's. Tears flooded her blue eyes, but she did not cry out. He watched as the vial attached to the needle began to fill with Celeste's blood. Even his untrained eye could tell how sick it was. Instead of a rich crimson, his daughter's blood was a pale red. Her little body just couldn't produce enough red blood cells. He had to look away.   
  
The doctor retracted the needle and pressed a fresh cotton swab to Celeste's arm. "Very, very good. She's quite a trooper, isn't she?"   
  
"Yeah." Noin's voice wobbled. "She's very used to this."   
  
"We're going to send this to the lab right away and we should have some preliminary test results back in a few hours." The doctor pulled off his rubber gloves. "In the meantime, I'd like to run an EKG. And, of course, transfuse some blood into her."   
  
Millardo frowned. "Why?"   
  
"Because of how thin her blood is, I'm worried about how it's being pumped through her heart. The echocardiogram will tell us for sure." He pulled a pen from his lab coat and scribbled something onto his clipboard before giving it to the nurse. "Nurse Phillip will take you up to cardiology." He smiled at Celeste as she used her good arm to rub her wet little cheeks. "I wish all my patients were as good about shots as you are, Celeste. I'll see you later today."   
  
Noin picked her daughter up from the examination table. "Thank you, Dr. Williams." The doctor smiled and left the room. "EKG. That'll be something different."   
  
"What's an EKG?", Celeste wondered.   
  
"I'm not sure, princess." Millardo ran a hand down the length of her blond hair. "I think it just means that they're going to watch your heart beat for awhile."   
  
Nurse Phillip smiled. "That's pretty much it. She'll be hooked up to a monitor by sensitized suction cup type things. It's absolutely painless."   
  
Noin held Celeste tighter. It was about time something in her daughter's life was painless.   
  
****  
  
The waiting area of Colin J. Hopkins Hospital was a stunning shade of grey. In the hours since Celeste's EKG and the ubiquitious blood transfusion, Millardo and Noin had come to the conclusion that the walls of the waiting room were not cream as they had previously thought, but a sickening grey. Eventually, even that discussion became boring as they waited for their daughter's test results. Noin flipped through a fashion magazine, but did not read a word. Millardo sat next to her, watching Celeste build a castle out of the blocks in the waiting room's toy bin. She was talking to herself as she stacked the colored pieces of wood.   
  
"...the most beautiful princess in the land. Everyone wanted to marry her. But Princess Celeste didn't want to get married, because if she did, she couldn't ride her horse all day..."   
  
Millardo stood up and walked over to kneel beside his daughter. "Princess Celeste liked her horse?" Celeste herself had never even been on a pony; any injuries she could possibly get from such physical activity would have been far too much for her little body to take.   
  
"Oh yes", Celeste said, nodding her head. "Her horse was her best friend."   
  
Noin tossed her magazine aside and joined her family on the floor. "What was her horse's name?"   
  
"Samantha", the little girl replied, without hesitation. "She was brown and white and..."  
  
"Mr. and Mrs. Peacecraft?"   
  
Millardo and Noin looked up. The first doctor, Dr. Williams, stood in front of them, a clipboard in his hands. A new nurse was beside him. They both stood up.   
  
"Hello, Celeste", Dr. Williams greeted their daughter.   
  
"Hi", she replied, politely, but warily. Her arm still ached because of him. She returned her attention to her blocks.   
  
Dr. Williams looked back at her parents. "Well, we have the test results back."   
  
"And...?", Millardo prompted.   
  
He hesitated. "I'd like to speak to you in my office. Nurse Belding will stay with Celeste out here."   
  
Noin bit her lip before nodding. "Of course." Millardo noticed her hands shaking. "Celeste, be a good girl." Celeste smiled and began to tell the nurse about Princess Celeste and her horse as her parents followed the doctor down the hallway.   
  
Once they were seated inside the spacious office, Millardo could not wait anymore. "What did her tests say?"  
  
Dr. Williams paused before speaking. "Her red blood cell count is getting lower. The medications don't seem to be having any effect at all. I'm very sorry; I had high hopes for our present treatment."   
  
"What does this mean?", Noin asked, in a tiny voice. "Will she be all right?"   
  
"Honestly, Mrs. Peacecraft, no. She won't be. Not unless we can get her body to produce more red blood cells. If this keeps going, eventually her blood will be so thin that it won't be able to get enough oxygen through her system. And if that happens, she will die."   
  
Millardo's fist tightened. "What does she need? What will it take to make her better?"   
  
"Currently, there's only one very effective method of treatment." Dr. Williams folded his hands in his lap. "We have to fool Celeste's body into believing that she doesn't have a blood disease. Blood, as you know, is formed in the bone marrow. If matching bone marrow were transplanted into hers, the correct genetic code for red blood cell production could fool her marrow into making healthy blood...indefinitely."   
  
"So...we just need to find a donor...and she'll be fine." Noin's eyes shone with hope.   
  
Dr. Williams sighed. "Therein lies the hard part. Matching bone marrow donors are usually blood relatives. Siblings seem to have the highest compatibility in this area. Celeste is an only child, isn't she?"  
  
Millardo nodded. He could see what the doctor was getting at. "She's an only child because..." He looked at Noin; she was completely silent and was not blinking. "We can't have anymore children. There were complications when Celeste was born..."   
  
"I see", the doctor said. "I'm very sorry."  
  
"What...is that it?" Millardo leaned forward. "That can't just be it! What about her mother and I? And she has two cousins...and an aunt. What about them?"  
  
"We'll test all of you, but I don't want you to get your hopes up. Really, a blood sibling is what we need because he or she would have the most similar genetic makeup. Barring that, we'll try to go through the national transplant lists and hope for a match." Dr. Williams shook his head. "I wish there was something more I could do."   
  
Noin's face was pale. Her hands were shaking even worse than before, but she still had not blinked despite the tears in her eyes. Millardo plunged his fingers into his hair. "What do we do in the meantime?"  
  
Dr. Williams launched into a discussion of medications and physical limitations, but Noin was beyond hearing. *...a blood sibling is what we need...* She finally blinked; her eyes stayed closed as a memory she both cherished and reviled came crashing down upon her.  
  
****  
  
****  
  
After Colony 194  
Lake Victoria Base  
South Africa  
  
It didn't matter how long she stared at the object in her hand. It didn't matter how much she screamed at it. It didn't matter how much she begged it to change colors. And it didn't matter how much she prayed to the god of her childhood. The test tube was still blue.   
  
And she was still pregnant.   
  
Noin slumped to the floor of the barrack's bathroom and buried her face in her arms. Her mother had always told her she was lucky. Apparently, she had been wrong.   
  
"Oh god..." She lifted her head and looked up at the monotone of the ceiling. Beyond reason at that point, all she could do was go over the details leading up to that moment. Meeting Zechs, falling in love with Zechs, making love with Zechs. Had they used protection? She couldn't even remember. She supposed that it had been forgotten in the heat of the moment. All the moments. And now, he was gone. Off in space somewhere....being groomed by Treize Kushrenada for the Specials. And there she was, on the cold tile floor of her barrack's bathroom, pregnant with his child.   
  
It was a very unfair world.   
  
After a long while, she forced herself to stand up. The test tube still lay on the edge of the sink; she wrapped it and its box in paper towels and unceremoniously chucked them into the wastebasket. Turning on the faucet as cold as it would go, she splashed water onto her face. It seemed to help a bit. Noin stared back at her dripping reflection. She reached up to touch her wet cheek; her hand floated down to the swell of her breast and, finally, to her lower abdomen. There were no signs yet. Only the continuous nausea and second missed period had alerted her to the fact that something was wrong with her body.   
  
Wrong with her body. She supposed that wasn't exactly the right phrase. At least, it wouldn't be to most women. But most women weren't high ranking officers in the OZ organization, with a newly appointed position as chief mobile suit instructor for an entire military base. And most women were still in contact with their baby's father.  
  
As best she could figure from her hasty calculations, she was between two and three months along. She was running out of time. If she waited any longer, her secret would not remain a secret. Patting her face dry, Noin straightened her uniform and left the bathroom. She walked back to her room and punched up her communicator.  
  
"Connect me to the private office of Lady Une on a secured line", she ordered. In a moment, Lady Une's blankly set, coldly beautiful face appeared on her screen. Noin immediately saluted. "Ma'am!"  
  
"Lieutenant Noin." Lady Une nodded in greeting. "What is this all about? A secured line? Has something happened?"  
  
Noin let her hand drop from her forehead, but her back remained as straight as possible. "No, ma'am. It was more for...personal reasons than security reasons."  
  
"I see." The other woman waited for Noin to continue.   
  
Rather than beating around the bush, Noin took a deep breath. "I have a small problem, ma'am. I'm about two months pregnant."   
  
Lady Une was quiet for a long minute. "I see", she repeated, in a much different tone. "Need I even ask who the lucky father is?"   
  
"I don't imagine that you do, ma'am." Noin lowered her gaze. "I am prepared to hand in a letter of resignation and accept a discharge from..."  
  
"Wait a moment, Lieutenant Noin." Lady Une held up her hand. "I don't think you contacted me just to tell me you were planning to quit. And besides, you're far too valuable of an officer to lose over something so easily taken care of." She put her hand back down. "Now...I'm sure you know your options. Or should I say option."  
  
Noin's head rose back up. "I will not have an abortion, ma'am."   
  
Lady Une stared at her for a moment. "You understand that is the normal course of action in situtions such as this, don't you?"   
  
"I wasn't aware that my body fell under any of OZ's policies. Ma'am."   
  
"Your entire life falls under OZ policy, Lieutenant", Une snapped back. After a second's pause, she sighed and removed her glasses. "You really won't even consider it?"  
  
"I'd never forgive myself", Noin said softly. *He'd never forgive me.*  
  
"And I assume you have no interest in keeping the child?"  
  
Noin swallowed. "The interest is there, ma'am. The right circumstances, however, are not."   
  
The other woman nodded and replaced her glasses on the bridge of her delicate nose. "Well then...it's a good thing you're stuck at the edge of the world in South Africa, Lieutenant. Here's what will happen. Carry your baby to term. Proceed with your mobile suit instructions. Your men, as well as the base's doctors, will be under strict orders to never speak of your condition to anyone. When the baby is born, OZ will arrange for its adoption and care." She leaned back in her seat and studied Noin's image on the screen. "Whether you choose to disclose your pregnancy to certain pertinent parties is entirely up to you." There was a slight pause. "I happen to know where he..."  
  
"That's all right, ma'am." Noin saluted. "I appreciate your advice and your discretion."   
  
Lady Une briefly saluted before shutting down communication, leaving Noin alone, but not empty.  
  
****  
  
****  
  
"Lu." Millardo gently touched his wife's hand. "Lu...we're home."   
  
Noin blinked several times. "Right." She looked around. Her husband was working to lift their sleeping daughter out of the backseat. As though in slow motion, Noin unbuckled her seat belt and followed them inside the Manor.   
  
Meghan, one of the maids, greeted them. "Welcome home", she said warmly. "You're just in time; they're all in the library, on the communicator with Mr. Maxwell."   
  
Millardo looked at his daughter. She was still fast asleep. "Thank you, Meghan." He made a move towards the library. Noin did not follow. Instead, she slipped up the stairs to their bedroom.   
  
He could hear Duo Maxwell's voice all the way in the hallway. With his free hand, Millardo slid the library doors open and stepped inside. Relena, Heero, Ben and Victoria were gathered around the communicator screen.   
  
"....so I told Abby she could invite boys to the party, but they'd have to stay on the other side of the room. Far on the other side of the room. Exiled." Duo laughed evily. "They're trying to have a good time, but I keep popping my head in to make sure no one's crossing the invisible line."   
  
Relena shook her head. "You're terrible, Duo."  
  
"Teenage boys can not be trusted", Heero informed her. Duo nodded his whole-hearted agreement.  
  
"Dad...can me and Victoria go now??", Ben whined. Evidently, there was just too much adult talk for him to bear any longer. Heero nodded curtly. When Ben eagerly turned to go, he noticed his uncle. "Uncle Millardo's back!"   
  
Both Heero and Relena turned their heads. Upon seeing Millardo's grim face, they turned back to the communicator. "Well, tell Abigail again that we all wish her a very happy birthday and that her present should be arriving soon", Relena said.  
  
Duo nodded. "See you in a few weeks."   
  
"Bye bye Mr. Duo", Victoria waved at the screen. Duo winked back at the little girl before shutting down the communication.   
  
There was a brief moment of silence. "Victoria...Ben. Go find Meghan and tell her I said it was all right for you to have a cookie. She knows where they are." Relena watched her children scramble out of the library. Her attention returned to her brother. "How did it go?"  
  
Millardo shifted Celeste a bit, but she did not wake up. "Not good. They need to do a bone marrow transplant. But they don't think they'll be able to find a suitable donor because she doesn't have a brother or a sister."   
  
"Oh no..." Relena put a hand to her mouth. "But...what about the rest of us?"   
  
"Maybe. But the doctor was pretty adament about the donor being a sibling." Millardo closed his eyes. "If she can't have the transplant....she's going to die."   
  
Relena jumped to her feet and went to him, throwing her arms around him and his daughter. "No...we're not going to let that happen. We will find a donor. I'll take Ben and Victoria to the hospital tomorrow and have them tested. I'll get myself tested, too."   
  
He wrapped his free arm around his little sister. "Thank you."   
  
Heero watched in silence. After a few minutes, he quietly stood up and walked out of the library.   
  
****  
  
There was a secret compartment of the jewelry box Noin's mother had given her before she left Italy that even Millardo had never seen. It was in this compartment that she kept the cross from her first Eucharist, the earrings her father had given her on her tenth birthday and a tiny, faded photograph taken sixteen years earlier.   
  
She wondered who had possesed the presence of mind, not to mention the audacity, to take the picture. Everyone who knew about the person in the picture was under orders to forget. Noin wished she could find the man who had gone against direct orders to provide her with this memory.   
  
The baby in the picture was only a few hours old. He was wrapped head to toe in blue flannel; a tiny curl of dark hair peeked out over his forehead. His eyes were tightly shut in sleep. She did not even know what color they were, despite having wondered for sixteen years. She hoped they were like Celeste's...the clear, crystal blue of the Peacecrafts.   
  
*Celeste.*  
  
Still holding the picture, Noin dropped her chin to her chest as a single tear danced down her nose. Celeste's entire life now depended on the baby in this photograph. She wanted to laugh outloud at how perfect everything was. At the same time, she wanted to scream at how impossible everything was. God had a sense of humor. Or maybe it was just the karma of Heero and Wufei's philosophies. Or the swift justice of Quatre's Allah.   
  
Perhaps she was getting what she deserved.   
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Quickly, she replaced the photograph and shut the jewelry box. "Who is it?", she managed to ask with some semblance of nomality in her tone.   
  
"Heero", came the reply.   
  
Noin blinked. In the seven years Heero had been married to her sister in law, he had never once, to her knowledge, asked to come into her and Millardo's room. "Um...come in?"  
  
The door opened and Heero took a tentative step inside. Of course, tentative, when applied to Heero Yuy, was a relative term. He looked uncomfortable, but not by any means shy. "I'm very sorry about Celeste", was the first thing he said.   
  
"Thank you." Noin looked down at her hands. "I suppose Millardo told you all everything."   
  
"Well..." Heero folded his arms over his chest. "I don't think he *could* tell us everything, even if he wanted to."   
  
Noin frowned. "I'm sorry. I don't follow."   
  
Heero glanced down the hallway before closing the door behind him. "I know, Noin."   
  
Her heart lept into her throat. "What....what are you talking about?"   
  
"When it became obvious what a formidible opponent Zechs Marquise would be, I took it as part of my mission to find out everything I could about him. Him and the people who seemed to be closest to him." Heero paused. "I know about the baby."   
  
"But.." Noin swallowed thickly. "That was...classified. There were no documents...no one was supposed to..." Her eyes narrowed. "What do you want, Heero? Why are you coming to me with this now...if you've really known all these years?"   
  
"I want my niece to live to see her fifth birthday." He refolded his arms. "When were you planning to tell him?"   
  
Noin took a breath; it failed to stop the fresh tears from appearing in the corners of her eyes. She fought them back, determined not to let Heero Yuy see her cry. "I didn't think...I'd ever have to."   
  
"And now?"  
  
"I know!", she cried. "I know...I have to tell him. Celeste needs..." She wiped at her eyes. "I just don't know how to tell him. Without him hating me."   
  
Heero watched her carefully. "You don't have much time."   
  
"Thank you, Heero. I'm aware of that." She glared back at her brother in law. After a second, her expression relaxed back into worry. "What would you do, Heero? If Relena told you she had...had a child without you knowing about it...and had given it away?"   
  
"I don't think it would have been possible for her to have..."  
  
"Heero. Please?"  
  
He thought for a moment. "I'd feel angry. And....betrayed."  
  
"Would you forgive her?" He didn't reply. Noin nodded. "I understand."   
  
"Tell him."  
  
She nodded again. "Yes."   
  
Heero opened the door. "Just so you know...I *would* forgive her", he said. "It would just take time." The door closed behind him.   
  
****  
  
"G'night, Daddy", Celeste mumbled. Her voice was muffled by the teddy bear she was snuggled up to in bed.   
  
Millardo looked up at the dark ceiling. "Night, princess", he whispered. Making sure to leave the door open a crack, he started towards his room. Lining the wall of the residence hallway was an assorted collection of family photographs and portraits. The biggest was a painting of Relena and himself, commissioned only months before the fall of the Sanq Kingdom. He stared at the vision of his younger self, happily holding his baby sister...unaware of the years of seperation that would soon come between them. Next to the painting was a portrait of him and Relena, taken at her wedding to Heero seven years earlier.   
  
Wedding photos. His wedding to Noin on Mars before they had returned to Earth. Relena's wedding to Heero in the Peacecraft Manor gardens. Duo's wedding to Hilde, courtesy of what looked like an Elvis impersonator. This was little more than a Polaroid, tacked to the wall by Duo himself upon one of his family's earliest visits to the Manor. It amused the maids and Millardo was inclined to leave it there, rather than take it down. There were photos of Ben as a baby, as well as Celeste and Victoria. A press portrait of him and Noin and Celeste, one of Heero, Relena, Ben and Victoria and then one of both families.   
  
The final, homemade photograph that he passed before he reached his room was of what Duo had dubbed "The Gundam Gang". Millardo just liked to think of the people in the picture as his friends. Duo, Hilde and their brood...Quatre, Trowa and little Amani...Wufei and Sally with their children, four year old Lin and two year old Jade...and of course, the Peacecrafts and Yuys. He found it amusing to think that at one time his mission had been to destroy these men and prevent them from ever having the sort of moments captured in the picture.   
  
Sighing, he let himself into his bedroom. Despite everything, his mood lifted a bit as his gaze fell on his wife. She was curled up in their king sized bed, dozing peacefully. He joined her on the bed, laying his body just alongside hers. With one hand, he traced the smooth curve of her jaw.   
  
"Still so very beautiful", he whispered, brushing his thumb across her full bottom lip. "After nearly twenty years..."   
  
She stirred. "Zechs...?"   
  
"I'm here." Leaning forward, he pressed a kiss to her soft mouth. "I'm right here."   
  
Her eyes opened, mesmerizing him once again with their dark violet depths. He considered himself a strong man. But one look at Noin's eyes had been all it had ever taken to bring him to his knees. "Is Celeste..."  
  
"Out like a light." His lips moved to her cheek. "She's fine."   
  
"No. She's sick." Noin's eyes closed; he felt something salty and wet touch his mouth. "Our baby is dying."   
  
Millardo put a finger to his wife's lips. "Shh. Don't talk like that. Don't even think like that. Promise me?"  
  
She didn't reply. Instead, she turned over until her back was facing him. "You heard the doctor. She needs a sibling."   
  
He was quiet for a second. "Lu...we can't do anything about that. You know we can't..."  
  
"I can do something about it", she cut him off. "That's just the thing... I can save our daughter."   
  
"We're going to save her together." He adjusted his body to press his chest against her back. His kisses found her neck through her hair. "Every step of the way...you and I, Lu."   
  
"You don't understand."   
  
Her voice was so odd. He thought that after thirteen years of marriage he would know all of her voices. This one caught him off-guard. He blinked. "What don't I understand?"   
  
She was a long time in speaking. During those moments, he could feel something building in the air. It wasn't pleasant. Finally, she took a breath. He felt her rib cage expand against his stomach and contract again as she blew the breath out. "Do you remember the first time we made love?"   
  
Millardo relaxed a bit. A trip down memory lane didn't seem too frightening a prospect...especially if Noin wanted to relive the memories. "Of course." He kissed her neck again. "I remember everything about it."   
  
"Do you remember if we used protection?"  
  
He stopped in mid-kiss. Slowly, he pulled away from her neck. "Um...does it really matter?" When she didn't say anything, he continued. "You got me. That's one thing I don't remember. It was a long time ago."   
  
"Yes. It was."   
  
"Lu..." He pulled on her shoulder, trying to roll her over to face him. "What is this all about?"   
  
She let herself be turned over, but she refused to look him in the eye. She focused her gaze on the second button of his navy blue shirt. "We didn't use protection."   
  
"You've always had a better memory than me, Lu." He tried to lift her chin, but she tightened her jaw muscles to keep it in place. "Tell me what's going on in there", he continued, touching her temple.   
  
"We were apart...a lot during that time." Noin continued to stare at his shirt. "There are things you don't..." She took in a ragged breath. "Things you don't know about me...that you should know."   
  
"All right." He reached for her chin again and this time she let him pull it upwards to meet his gaze. "Whatever's bothering you, Lu...you can tell me."   
  
Her eyes were wet with fresh tears. "I want to. I *have* to..." She pulled away from him abruptly and slid off the bed. He thought he heard her say, "You're going to hate me."   
  
Millardo sat up. "I'm going to what? Hate you?" With her back turned to him, she nodded. "Impossible. Couldn't ever happen. Nothing you could ever say to me could make me hate you."   
  
"Are you sure?"   
  
He blinked. "Yes."   
  
She was still for another moment before spinning around to face him. "We'll see." After a half-second's pause, she let the truth come out after sixteen years. "During the war....I had a baby. Your baby." There was silence as she continued. "It was given away by OZ."   
  
His mouth wouldn't work. "You what?", he managed to make it ask.   
  
Her momentary detachment crumbled. "Oh god....I wanted to tell you. I really did. But I just...couldn't. Not while I was pregnant...not when the baby was born....and all the years since then." She crossed her arms and turned her head up towards the ceiling. "I'm so sorry."   
  
"You..." Millardo made a noise halfway between a laugh of disbelief and a snort. It was the sound of utter confusion and mounting anger. "You had...a baby? And you never told me?" Noin nodded. "Why?"   
  
"I don't know."   
  
"You're going to have to do better than that, Lu." He jumped off the bed but did not come near her. Something in the way he held his body told her not to approach him either. The distance between them seemed like miles. "I mean...this is...this is fucking..." His hands held either side of his head. "This is fucking unbelievable."   
  
"I didn't know how to tell you."   
  
Millardo looked at her as though he had never seen her before. "But you didn't even try. Did you? You carried a baby...our baby...for nine months and you never told me. You let our..." He stopped.  
  
"Our son", she whispered.  
  
He continued. "Our son...you let our son be given away...and you still didn't tell me." He cocked his head to one side. "Were you *ever* going to tell me, Lu??" When she didn't answer, he began to laugh. "This is just...great. Just great."   
  
"Please hear me out, Zechs."  
  
"All I want to know is why." There was immense hurt in the eyes she knew so well. Betrayal, anger and hurt. "Just tell me why, Lu. Did you think I'd want you to go through that alone? Did you not love our child?"   
  
"No...no, Zechs." Noin reached for him but he stepped back. "It killed me to give him up. But what choice did I have?" He said nothing. "Try to understand. I was barely nineteen years old...I was scared. If you had been there...if we hadn't been on the brink of a war...if I hadn't been an officer..." She shook her head. "I couldn't have kept our baby, Zechs. As much as I might have wanted to...it just wasn't possible." Still, he said nothing. "They wanted me to have an abortion. I refused. I couldn't kill our baby."   
  
His eyes flashed. "Oh...do you want a medal, Noin?" It was the first time in years he had called by that name. "Maybe a mother of the year award? 'Don't be mad at me, baby...at least I didn't kill our kid. I just gave it away and forgot to tell you about it for sixteen years'." He was hurting her. Part of him couldn't seem to care. He turned around so he wouldn't have to see her face.   
  
"What I did..." She covered her mouth with a shaking hand. "What I did was very wrong. I don't expect you to..."  
  
"Oh my god." Millardo turned back around slowly. "You never would have told me...if not for what the doctor said today." His hands reached around behind his head, gathering up his long hair. It was an unconcious gesture. "Shit... You told me....because we need this kid. Who the hell are you, Lucrezia, that you'd use a forgotten child to save the life of the one you didn't abandon?"   
  
He wasn't surprised to feel her palm connect with the side of his face. The blow swung his head around to the side; his cheek stung long afterwards.   
  
"I could take your hatred, Millardo. I could take your apathy. But I will *not* take that." She backed away. "Don't you dare question my love for either of our children. I have torn myself up for sixteen years over a choice I made. And I've done it all by myself."  
  
"You chose to do it all by yourself."   
  
She nodded. "That is true. Again...it was *my* choice to make."   
  
The longest silence of their marriage followed. Finally, Millardo spoke. "I'm going to go. Anything I say from this point on would just be...bad. We'll talk in a few days."   
  
Noin watched as he threw a bag of clothes together. "Zechs", she called out as he was about to leave. He stopped to acknowledge her. "I love you. You know that."   
  
"I know. And I love you too." He opened the door. "I just don't like you very much right now."   
  
It was a long time after he left before Lucrezia Noin-Peacecraft let herself cry.   
  
****  
  
The water pouring from the shower head had turned cold. Heero was barely aware of it. He stood under the strong spray, letting the icy liquid bathe his body as he replayed his conversation with his sister in law over and over again in his mind. It wasn't often that Heero Yuy dwelled on things, but he could not stop thinking about the way Noin had looked when he confronted her. Scared, overwhelmed, suspicious...and very alone. His fist balled up. Had he done the right thing? He had no idea.  
  
Finally, he turned the shower off, but he still stood motionless in the stall, allowing the water to drip from him. After a few minutes, he ran a hand through his wet hair, pushing it off his forehead and stepped out. He reached for a towel and quickly dried off. Unwittingly, his teeth chattered as he wrapped the cloth around his waist.   
  
Relena was sitting at her dressing table, clad in a short, red satin nightgown, brushing her hair when he re-entered the bedroom. She looked up at his reflection in the mirror. Her husband's hair was plastered to his head, still dripping; his lips were edged in blue and his skin was a shade paler than usual. "Heero?" She dropped her brush and went to him.   
  
"I'm all right", he said in dull reassurance.   
  
Her hand reached for his cheek, touching ice-cold skin. "Sweetheart...you're freezing!" Heero let her examine him worriedly. In truth, he was very cold, but the hands touching his bare skin were warm. "How long were you in there, Heero?" When he didn't answer, she sighed and unwrapped the towel from his waist, using it to rub his thick brown hair dry.   
  
"I think I did something...wrong", he finally said.   
  
Relena stopped drying his hair and stared at him for a long moment. "All right..." She tossed the towel over a chair. "Into bed with you." Heero obliged and slid his still very cold, still very naked body into their bed. Relena retrieved a winter blanket from their closet and joined him under the covers, making sure the blanket was well tucked around her husband. She snuggled close as to give him as much of her body heat as possible. "Do you want to talk about it?" He didn't reply except to shiver. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Millardo storming out of the house about half an hour ago, would it?"   
  
"Probably."   
  
She sighed again, a tiny smile playing on her lips. "Heero...why can't you two get along better? After all these years living under the same roof, you would think that..."  
  
"It's not me, Relena." He paused. "That's not what I did wrong."   
  
"Then what's going on?"   
  
Heero took a deep breath and told his wife everything. "He must have needed to get away", he finished a few minutes later.   
  
Relena was shocked into silence. "Oh god...", she eventually said. "Poor Lu..."  
  
"Poor Lu?"  
  
"Yes." Relena shifted against her husband's rapidly warming body. "I mean...I feel very bad for my brother, but Lu has been carrying this all inside her for a very long time. I can't even imagine..." She shook her head. "Having a baby all by yourself..."  
  
"I didn't think about it like that", Heero admitted.   
  
His wife's forehead crinkled. "How do you fit into all of this, Heero? Why does this have you standing under freezing water until your lips turn blue?"  
  
He bit the inside of his cheek. "I've known for years, koibito. I found out during the war."  
  
"And you never said anything until today?"  
  
"It wasn't my secret to tell. But...I needed to know that Noin would do the right thing...so I confronted her with it. You know, this kid...wherever he is...this kid is going to save Celeste's life." Heero tucked his face into Relena's neck. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything to her."   
  
Relena stroked his wet hair. "I've never known you to second guess yourself, Heero." He made a noise of agreeement. "It was all going to come out soon. You just...speeded up the process, sweetie." She kissed the top of his head. "And my brother will figure things out on his own."  
  
Heero breathed in the scent of Relena's body lotion. Honeysuckle. "Secrets...", he muttered. He lifted his head and looked down at her.  
  
"What?", she finally asked. He raised an eyebrow. "No, Heero." Relena laughed. "I am not hiding any children from you."  
  
"Are there *any* secrets you're keeping from me?"  
  
Relena thought for a moment. "I once had an erotic dream about Quatre. Oh...and I'm *extremely* jealous of Duo's hair."   
  
He dropped his head to her shoulder. "That's not what I meant..."  
  
Laughing, Relena pushed his head back up. "I'm sorry." Her fingers lightly stroked his cheek. "I don't think it's possible to know *everything* about someone else, Heero. Nor should we really want to. We need our secrets; they keep us..." She searched for the right phrase. "They keep us from feeling too exposed. But I promise you this. I will never keep a secret that would hurt you." After a second of staring into the sincerity of her eyes, Heero kissed her. Her tongue traced his lips, warming his mouth. "I love you, Heero", she whispered when they broke apart.   
  
He lightly nipped at her jaw before kissing the soft flesh. His kisses were growing in intensity, but then suddenly stopped. Relena's eyes opened. He was looking down at her with an unfamiliar expression. It almost seemed like....jealousy. "What's wrong?"  
  
"You had an erotic dream about Quatre?"  
  
"It was a little dream", she defended herself. "And it was way before we were married."   
  
Heero frowned. "What happened in the dream?"  
  
Relena lips curled up mischieviously. "Would you like me to show you?"  
  
"Does it involve tea in any way?"   
  
"Only if you want it to."   
  
Heero gave a rare laugh. "I'm all yours, koibito." He kissed her. "Always."   
  
****  
  
The main headquarters of the government sanctioned organization known as the Preventers was located in a former military base off the coast of Europe. The Preventers were formed with the simple intention of preventing another war by maintaining a close watch on the relations between Earth and its sister colonies. In addition to that responsibility, the Preventers also took it upon themselves to be on the constant lookout for possible acts of terrorism or just general unrest in either the colonies or on Earth.   
  
Hand in hand with that was the task of keeping the world leaders, who placed their politics above their safety, from physical harm. It was for that reason that all six of the former Gundam pilots were enlisted as Preventers, even if only two of them, Trowa Barton and Chang Wufei, were active members of the organization. Both Relena Peacecraft-Yuy and Quatre Winner were heavily involved with the politics and economics of the world...and chances with their lives simply could not be taken.   
  
But Preventer business was the furthest thing from Millardo Peacecraft's mind as he stalked into Headquarters first thing on the Monday morning after the truth about the child he had never known existed came to light. He took the elevator up to the top floor, ignoring the strange looks he recieved from the other Preventers in the building. When he reached his destination, he did not hesitate to burst into the office.   
  
"Mr. Peacecraft....you can't go in there..." The pert and perky secretary in the waiting room was unsucessful in her attempts to keep the man at bay. "Mr. Peacecraft! She's not to be..." The office door slammed behind him. "...disturbed."   
  
Inside the office, Millardo addressed the woman behind the desk. "Tell me where my son is."   
  
Lady Une looked up at him for a moment before returning her attention to her communicator screen. "Excuse me, Ms. President. Something urgent just came up. I'll get back to you soon." She turned the screen off and folded her hands in her lap with extreme precision. "Good morning to you too."   
  
"I'm not in the mood for formalities, Une", he pratically snarled. "Just tell me what I want to know."   
  
She sighed. "I always thought this day might come. Still...nothing quite prepares you."   
  
"Do you want to talk unprepared?" Millardo put his palms on her desk and leaned forward. "Try finding out your wife had your kid and didn't tell you for sixteen years. Then you can bitch about being unprepared."   
  
Lady Une smiled sadly. "That's fair." With another sigh, she stood up and looked out her plate glass window. "Your anger is justified as well."   
  
"Oh thank you", he snapped. "Very kind of you. Just tell me where I can find my son."   
  
There was a pause as she thought for a moment. "He's been very well taken care of. He's healthy and safe."  
  
"How the hell do you know?"   
  
She smiled again. "There aren't many children born to high ranking officers of OZ that I have under my care, Millardo. And I have taken care of your son. He goes to school, he lives well, he has friends." Une hesitated. "Do you really want to turn his life upside down?"   
  
Instead of making him angry, her words seemed to make him sad. His hard face softened. "You know so much about him....and I don't even know his name." He ran a hand through his white-blond hair. "I don't want to upheave his life. I just want to...know him."   
  
Lady Une watched the world from her window for another second before turning to face him. "I could tell you. In fact, I would like to tell you. Contrary to what you might think, I have not been hiding this boy from you for malcious reasons." She paused. "Neither has your wife." Millardo said nothing. "I remember the night she called me to tell me she was pregnant. I could tell she was very shaken. Did she tell you that her first instinct was to hand in her resignation?"  
  
"No..." Millardo swallowed. "She didn't."   
  
"Well, it was. I wouldn't let her though; she was far too valuable to OZ. And Treize knew how much she meant to you, as well as how much she enjoyed her job. I did what I thought he would do for you both. After she completely dismissed the possiblity of an abortion, I arranged for her pregnancy to be dealt with, as well as care for the baby after he was born. Perhaps it wasn't the right decision. It certainly wouldn't be if it happened right now. But at the time, it was the only thing to do. Noin knew that. I can't even imagine what it's been like for her to keep this secret from you."   
  
"I can't even imagine why she hasn't told me before now", he countered.  
  
Une shook her head. "I'm sure she has her reasons. Consider them before you let your shock and hurt turn into hate." She reached into her desk and pulled out a file. "His name is Edward. He attends a very prestigious boarding school in America. Everything you need to know is in here." Before he could take the file, she moved it out of his reach. "Promise me that Noin will see this."   
  
He sighed. "She'll see it."   
  
****  
  
"Shit!!" Noin looked down at her bleeding thumb. The knife she was using to cut apple slices was still in her hand; a drop of her blood glistened on the tip of the blade. Blood... Instinctively, she raised the wound to her lips.   
  
"Lu?" It was Relena, coming up from behind. "What's wrong?"  
  
Noin quickly dropped the knife and reached to turn the kitchen faucet on. "It's nothing. Just a little cut." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she noticed the blood dripping down her wrist. She watched the crimson colored river work its way down to her inner elbow as Relena reached for a paper towel. Noin let her sister in law run her hand under the faucet and apply pressure with the makeshift bandage. "Thank you."   
  
Relena bit her lip worriedly. "I hope you won't need stitches." The paper towel had already begun to turn red.   
  
"I'm sure I'll be fine", Noin replied dully. "I've had worse." There was a second of awkward silence. "You know everything, don't you?"  
  
"Yes." Relena saw no point in lying. "Heero told me the other night."   
  
Noin sighed. "I'm glad. I don't think I could take going through the details again."  
  
Relena chose her words carefully as she wrapped a new piece of paper towel around Noin's thumb. "How did Millardo take it?"  
  
"It's been two days, Relena. And he still hasn't..." She stopped. "I know what I did was wrong. But I can't help but feel that he's trying to punish me."   
  
"You know he wouldn't do that. My brother loves you." Relena increased the pressure on the wound. "He has to be hurting right now. As you are. I hope you two don't let yourselves go through this without each other."   
  
Noin's chin trembled. "I hope not too. But at this point, I don't even know what to do next, Relena. I can't add to my wrongs in this situation." A tear collected in each of her blue eyes. "Finding this child and asking him to save his sister's life...would that be wrong? I mean, I never tried before, right? Would I be using one child to save the other?"  
  
Relena shook her head. "I don't know. I wish I could tell you, Lu." She gave her sister in law a long hug. "He will come back. That I'm sure of. And knowing you two, you'll make it all work."   
  
The other woman nodded against Relena's shoulder. She had always known Relena was the source of strength for them all. She had never known she would need the younger woman's strength outside of the political arena.   
  
Noin's makeshift bandage had turned red again. Relena unwrapped it and looked at the wound carefully. "Let's find a real bandage upstairs. And maybe some peroxide."   
  
Without arguing, Noin followed her after Relena secured another piece of paper towel around the injured thumb. When they entered the foyer to go up the staircase, both women were startled to see the very familiar figure of Millardo, standing silently at the front door. He had a bag in one hand and a thin, manila file folder in the other.   
  
There was silence until Relena let go of Noin's hand and walked to her brother. She gave him a light kiss on his cheek. "Welcome home." Moving back, she started up the stairs. "I'm going to go check on the kids."   
  
Noin waited until Relena had disappeared down the second floor hallway before she greeted her husband. "You came back."   
  
"I said I needed a few days", he replied.   
  
"Celeste missed you." Noin's fist tightened around her wounded thumb. "I missed you."   
  
Millardo looked down at the file in his hand. "I missed her." Looking back up, he added, "Missed you, too."   
  
Noin allowed herself a small smile. "Where did you go?"  
  
"All over." He noticed her bloody hand. Concern flashed through his eyes. "What happened?"  
  
"Oh..." She shook her head. "I cut myself slicing apples."  
  
He took an unconcious step foward. "You should be more careful." Another step brought him even closer to her. "I don't want you to hurt yourself."   
  
"Like I hurt you?"  
  
A second passed. "If you want to think about it like that", he finally said. "Look, Lu..."  
  
"Zechs...", she began at the same time. They both stopped. Noin lowered her head, smiling. "You first."   
  
Millardo sighed. "You always used to let me go first, Noin." He paused. "You first this time."   
  
She did not hesitate. "I'm sorry." Before he could say anything, she continued. "You asked me why I never told you. Well, I've had a lot of time in the past few days to think that over." He nodded, indicating for her to go on. "When I found out I was pregnant, I was so scared. Being so young and being an officer was only part of it. I was also scared that..." She stopped.   
  
"Scared that...?", Millardo pressed.   
  
Noin let out a breath. "I was scared that you didn't love me the way I loved you. Yes, we made love...but for all I knew, it was just sex to you. And then you left and didn't even try to keep in touch. I didn't know how you would feel about a baby we created...so, I didn't tell you. And do you know what?" She bit her lip. "When I saw you again at Victoria, only a little while after the baby's birth, I came to the immediate conclusion that I had done the right thing. Because you didn't seem to care. You were distant and formal...it was almost like we had never been intimate."   
  
He lowered his head. "Lu..."   
  
"Are you aware that you did not tell me you loved me until Mars?" Noin stared at her bloody thumb. "It was the best and worst moment of my life. Best because you finally said it...and I finally knew. And worst because there was this tremendous secret that I had already kept for so long. I though that if I told you right then, I would lose your love." There was a pause. "I don't blame you for the choices I made. But I need you to know that I never meant to hurt you."   
  
Millardo was quiet throughout his wife's speech. He felt, at the same time, equal parts understanding and guilt. The hurt was still there, but it seemed inconsequential at that moment. He looked down at the marble floor. "I'm sorry that I made you doubt me."   
  
Noin smiled softly. "You've spent every moment since then making it up to me, Zechs. Without even knowing that's what you were doing."   
  
Embracing her was the most natural thing in the world. He dropped his bag and drew her close. Her uninjured hand slid around his neck; fingers lost themselves in his hair. Noin laid her cheek on her husband's chest. His strong heartbeat just under the cloth and flesh pounded steadily in her ear.   
  
She was always a perfect fit in his arms. It had only been a few days, but to Millardo, it had been years since he had held her. Seen her. Heard her voice. Breathed her fragrance. His Lucrezia was a symphony of the senses. He dipped his head to taste her lips. They carried the flavor of blood. Sharp, metallic holy wine; it was the way she tasted when she returned from the Catholic Masses that she felt the compulsion to attend every so often.   
  
The thought of blood caused him to pull away. Her wound needed his attention. "Come on. Let's get you fixed up."   
  
Noin's attention was drawn to the file he had refused to let go of, even to embrace her. "What is that?"   
  
He looked down at it as though he had forgotten it was there, so molded to his hand it had become. "This..." His gaze met her curious eyes. "This is Edward."   
  
"Edward...?" Her face was pale, like someone had erased the color from her cheeks. "Edward, our..."  
  
"Son." Millardo held the file out to her. "Do you want to meet him?"   
  
She licked the corner of her suddenly dry mouth. "Just like that?", she whispered.   
  
"Say the word", he replied back, just as quietly.   
  
Noin regained her composure and looked at her husband. "I want to. But I don't want you think it's just because he can save..."   
  
His finger pressed against her lips. "I was wrong for saying that, Lu." The finger trailed over her chin. "We'll find our son because he's ours. The choice to help Celeste will be his entirely."   
  
"All right", Noin nodded after a long minute. "When do we leave?"  
  
****  
  
Earth  
The John F. Kennedy School for Boys  
Northern America  
  
"Edward Sinclair....Edward Sinclair, please report to Dean Sheradon's office immediately. Edward Sinclair to the Dean's office."   
  
The boy in question looked up at the gym's intercom. The surprise of hearing his name over the loudspeaker temporarily distracted him, allowing Benny Mitchell to steal the basketball right out from his hands.   
  
"Ha!! That'll teach you to pay attention, Sinclair!" Benny dribbled the ball for a few seconds before sending it sailing through the high perched hoop. "I believe that's the game."   
  
Edward sighed in defeat and pushed a hand through his unruly curls of dark hair. He hated losing. "You were winning anyways", he told his best friend. Walking off the court, he reached for his gym towel and wiped his forehead.   
  
"I know", Benny replied, trimphantly. He picked up the ball. "I wonder what Sheradon wants with you." Shrugging, Edward draped the towel around his neck. "Well...it can't be your grades, Mr. Future Valedictorian", Benny continued. "You haven't been sneaking in any girls after hours, have you?"   
  
His taller friend laughed. "Don't you think I would let you in on it if I were?"   
  
Benny slung a casual arm around Edward's shoulders. "Eh. Maybe, maybe not. I know you like your secrets."   
  
Edward sobered momentarily. "My whole life is a secret. Even to me."   
  
"Welcome to John F. Kennedy." Benny spread his free arm wide. "Everyone's got a sob story."   
  
Still amused, Edward pushed the other boy away. "Hit the shower. You smell like a gym sock."   
  
"I've got news for you", Benny pointed at him as he walked backwards towards the locker room. "You don't smell much better."   
  
"Maybe not." Edward grinned. "But I look great." He was rewarded with the appropriate hand gesture. Laughing out loud, Edward left the gym, heading towards the Dean's office. It wasn't unusual for him to be called to Sheradon's office during the week. He was president of his class, after all. Still, he was curious to find out what their stuffy little Dean wanted.   
  
Sheradon's ancient secretary, Ms. Harper, greeted him as he entered the administration building. "Good afternoon, Edward."   
  
Loving to tease the old lady with much appreciated flirting, he winked at her. "Ms. Harper...you are far too lovely to be stuck indoors on a day like today. How about I whisk you off to the Riviera for a week of wine and dancing?"  
  
"You are a cad. You have been since you were old enough to speak. I shudder to think what you'll be like when you get a little bit older", she teased back.   
  
He replied with his usual flippant seriousness. "I imagine I'll be a little bit older, ma'am."   
  
"Get in there, you." She gestured towards the door to Sheradon's office. "They're waiting."   
  
"They?", he asked, dropping all flirtations momentarily. "What's this all about, Ms. Harper?"   
  
The old woman looked uncomfortable. "Better get moving, Edward."   
  
Frowning, he complied, only pausing to knock on the door. The politeness drilled into him after years of orphanages and boarding schools was now instinctual.   
  
"Come in", came the muffled reply.   
  
He tentatively opened the door. "You wanted to see me, Dean Sheradon?"   
  
The small, bald man beckoned to him with one hand. "All the way in, Mr. Sinclair."   
  
Edward pushed the door open further and slipped inside. The first thing he noticed was that the Dean was not alone in his office. A man and a woman sat in the plush chairs facing the Dean's desk. As he came into the room, he could feel their stares on him immediately. He suddenly wished he had taken a few minutes to shower before leaving the gym. "Did you need something, Dean?", he asked uncomfortably.   
  
"Have a seat, Mr. Sinclair." Dean Sheradon motioned to a chair next to the strange man with long, white blond hair. Without arguing, Edward did as he was told. "Mr. Sinclair", Sheradon began. "Edward....I'd like you to meet Millardo and Lucrezia Peacecraft."   
  
He glanced at the man and woman. They were still staring at him, their eyes following his every movement. There were making him feel self-concious, something he hadn't felt in a very long time. The woman especially. Were those tears in her eyes? "Hello", he said to them with the same, rehearsed politeness.   
  
"Edward." The Dean stood up and moved to him, placing a hand on Edward's toned shoulder. "Mr. and Mrs. Peacecraft...are your parents."   
  
The next few seconds were nearly unbearable. The desire to come up with a clever, witty comment was strong, but the only word his brain seemed able to form was, "Huh?"   
  
"Now, I understand that this comes as a bit of a shock, Edward." Dean Sheradon gave the Peacecrafts a sympathetic look. "It's a difficult situation for everyone." Neither child nor parents replied. "Well...I'm going to go and give you all some privacy to discuss this." He patted Edward's shoulder before quietly leaving the room.   
  
It was a few minutes after he left before anyone spoke. Noin had been studying the boy carefully ever since his head had poked into the room. A small smile played on her lips. "You have your father's eyes", she said, happily.   
  
Edward blinked and looked at the man beside her. She was right; his own eyes stared back at him, clear and crystal blue. He took a breath. "Am I supposed to say something to that?" He didn't intentionally put any sarcasm into his words, but it still came out.   
  
Her smile fell a bit. "I suppose not."   
  
He felt bad, but only for a moment. It wasn't as though he knew these people. If they really were who they said they were, he had a few more choice words to say to them. Unwittingly, they slipped out. "So...where the hell have you been for the past sixteen years?"   
  
Noin looked down at her hands. "It's a very long story, Edward."   
  
The boy shrugged with sudden defiance and much anger. "Don't you think you owe me?" Neither of them replied. "Okay...let me guess." He stood up and pointed to Noin. "You were a rich society girl." His other hand pointed to Millardo. "You were from the wrong side of the tracks. Summer night...backseat of a Chevy..." He put a hand to his mouth. "Oops! But..." The hand moved down to his heart. "Lust turned to love. And a decade and a half later...it's time for a family reunion."   
  
Millardo shook his head. "You're way too cynical for a sixteen year old."   
  
Edward ignored him. "Only guess what? I don't feel like playing family." He folded his arms over his gym shirt. "So why don't you just tell me what you want with me?"   
  
"We want...we want to know you", Noin managed to say. "You're our son...."   
  
"I learned to talk when I was two. How come you didn't feel like knowing me then?"  
  
"She told you." Millardo leaned forward on his elbows. "It was complicated."   
  
Edward laughed. "Well, surely that answers all of my questions." His eyes narrowed. "Tell me why you're here now. After sixteen years." He didn't give them time to answer before he continued. "I mean, there's got to be a reason, right? Does someone need a kidney or what?"   
  
Noin bit her lip. "You're a smart kid", she whispered.   
  
Any remote part of him that wanted these people's love vanished in that moment. It was like a bad soap opera...or a Shakesperian tragedy. Or maybe one of the comedies. No, a tragedy, he decided. In the tragedies, the heroes were necessary to the plot...even if most of them did end up dead. They were needed. He was needed. He shook his head. What was he doing? He wasn't making any sense...even to himself. Edward looked up at the ceiling. He wasn't needed, not really. Just his kidney. Or whatever other body part they wanted from him. That's all he was to them. At least Romeo got some action...  
  
"So", he finally said. "I have something you need."   
  
Millardo stood up in frustration. "That's not the reason we're here, Edward."   
  
"Are you saying you don't need me?"   
  
"No. No...that's not it. We..." The man who claimed to be his father stopped and began again. "All right. Yes. You have a sister who needs you in order to live. But we would never try to use you like that, Edward. You're our son."   
  
"You keep saying that!" Edward unfolded his arms. "You can't call me your son, got it?! I don't know you! I don't know anything about you! And you damn sure don't know anything about me. You probably don't even care, do you? Just so long as I give you what you want so you can save your real kid." He felt tears welling up, but he would be damned before he let them see him cry. "Well, you can forget it, all right?! You're not taking anything of mine!" Despite his efforts, a tear slipped out and down his cheek. "You're not!!"   
  
Silence hung in the room. Noin stood and quietly walked to her son. He was chewing on his lower lip, staring upwards to blink back his emotions. She put a cool hand against his cheek. "Edward..." He jerked his head away, but she persisted. "Edward...look at me." After a long moment, he gave in. Noin searched her son's watery blue eyes. "I know I've hurt you. I made choices..." She took a breath. "Maybe they weren't the best choices, but I didn't have any better options."  
  
"If you're asking for my forgiveness..."  
  
She tightened her gentle grip on his chin. "I'm not asking you for anything. I'm trying to tell you....from the moment I found out I was carrying you, I have loved you. I don't expect you to believe that, but it's out there for you. You are loved. And it's more than your bone marrow....more than than what you can do for us. It's just you. Edward Peacecraft. Don't you want to find out what that means?"  
  
He backed away from the woman slowly. "My name is Edward Sinclair. I'm sixteen years old. I have no parents and I live in a very fancy orphanage. That's all I know. That's all I've ever known."   
  
Noin shook her head. "It doesn't have to be that way anymore."   
  
Edward sniffed. "What do you mean?"   
  
"Come with us", Millardo proposed. "Meet your sister. Your aunt, uncle...cousins. Find out who you really are." He saw doubt in his son's eyes. "No conditions. No strings. If you choose, you can return to your life here at any time." He swallowed. "And you'll never have to see us again."   
  
The boy was quiet as he thought. All of his life, a dream had haunted him. The dream that was now a frightening reality. His parents...coming for him. Standard orphanage dream, he supposed, but it was what had gotten him through years of lonliness and self-hate, wondering what he had done to make himself so unlovable to the invisible people who had created him. He glanced back and forth between Millardo and Lucrezia Peacecraft. *What the hell?* It wasn't as though he had anything better to do.   
  
"All right", he finally agreed. "I'll go. But book me a round trip. I don't expect to be staying for long."   
  
****  
  
"Auntie 'Lena..." Celeste looked up at the woman giving her a bath. "Where's Mommy and Daddy?"   
  
Relena smiled at her niece and poured a dollop of baby shampoo into her hand. "They went on a little trip, Celeste. They'll be back in a day or so."   
  
The little girl was quiet as Relena worked the shampoo into her hair. "I want them to come home now!" Her lower lip trembled.   
  
"Hey...favorite niece." Her aunt gently stroked the top of her soapy head. "Don't you be sad, all right? I promise you they'll be back. And..." She reached for a cup to begin to rinse Celeste's hair. "I just bet they'll have a present for you."   
  
This seemed to cheer Celeste up. A child's eager grin spread on her face. "A present...for me?"  
  
Relena nodded and gave the girl's hair a final douse, satisfied that all the soap was gone. "Isn't that worth waiting for?"  
  
Before Celeste could answer, there was a knock on the bathroom door. "Relena." Heero's voice was muffled. "They're at the gate."   
  
She didn't need to ask who. Standing up, she lifted Celeste out of the tub and set her on the bathmat. "Guess what?" Celeste stood patiently as Relena dried her off. "They're back already."   
  
Her niece's blue eyes grew wide with excitement. "Mommy! Daddy!" She made a naked move for the bathroom door, but Relena caught her just in time.   
  
"C'mon you little exhibitionist. Let's find you some pajamas."   
  
****  
  
Edward had been silent for most of the long plane trip from America, only opening his mouth to talk to the pretty stewardess who served them drinks and peanuts. The car ride from the airport to wherever his alleged family lived was no different. When they reached a large, wrought iron gate, Millardo finally spoke.   
  
"This house has been in our family for generations. We lost it for awhile, but fortunately we were able to get it back." When Edward still failed to reply, Millardo continued. "You'll meet my sister, your aunt, Relena and her husband, Heero. They have two children, Benjamin and Victoria. And then there's your sister, Celeste."   
  
*Celeste.* He repeated the name to himself. A very pretty name for someone who was probably a spoiled, pre-teen brat. Craning his neck slightly, he watched as the massive house came into view. It was impressive, but he was determined not to be impressed by anything he saw during his stay with the Peacecrafts.   
  
The drive to the house was relatively short and in a few minutes, he found himself out of the car, glancing up at the front door of the Manor. Light poured from large windows along the house. They were obviously expected; the door opened suddenly and a man in uniform stepped out.   
  
"Good evening, Mr. Millardo...Ms. Lucrezia." The old man smiled warmly.   
  
"Hello Pagan!" Noin gave the man a kiss on the cheek. Edward watched as the butler took her carry-on bag.   
  
Millardo pulled their suitcases from the trunk of the car and set them on the porch. In less than a minute, two maids appeared and whisked them away. Edward became momentarily worried about the safety of his stuff...there wasn't much of it, after all. He relaxed almost immediately though. The house was obviously organized; he could tell that and he hadn't even stepped a foot inside yet. Butlers, maids, chauffered limousines and a whopping mansion.   
  
*This could get interesting...* He followed Millardo and Noin into the house.   
  
A man of average height with a shock of dark brown hair and rather stony blue eyes was waiting for them at the bottom of the grand staircase. Millardo addressed him. "Heero."   
  
Edward looked at the man who was supposed to be his uncle. He didn't look a thing like what Edward had pictured. He was neither fat nor bald, as he had always pictured uncles. When he spoke, he became even further removed from the stereotype in Edward's mind. His voice was heavy with an almost cold tone. Yet, he didn't seem angry. He got the feeling that this man was a force to be reckoned with if you were on his bad side. Not surprisingly, Edward didn't feel like getting on that side.   
  
"Welcome back", Heero said with none of the joy associated with that phrase. His hard gaze fell on the strange boy next to his in-law's. "Hello Edward."   
  
The boy didn't smile back. "Hey", was all he said in reply.   
  
A much younger boy ran into the foyer with a toy mobile suit in his hand. It was obvious that he was trying to get the object to fly on its own. Heero caught the kid as he ran by and held him still. "Ben...your aunt and uncle are back."   
  
Ben tore his attention from his toy and grinned widely, revealing the space his first lost tooth had created. "Hi!", he said merrily. Looking at Edward, he continued. "Who are you?"   
  
Edward smiled. The great thing about kids was that they never beat around the bush. He held out his hand to the boy who was supposed to be his cousin. "I'm Edward."   
  
The boy shook it with all the seriousness of a six year old. "I'm Ben, pilot of the M31 Bomber!!!" Wrenching away from his father, Ben lifted the little mobile suit high into the air. "Enemy spotted!!", he cried, running out of the foyer. "Oh no!! It's a Bomber!!!"  
  
Heero looked mildly embarassed. "He got into the cookies."   
  
"Right", Millardo said.  
  
Noin looked around anxiously. "Where's Celeste? Is she all right? Has she been taking her medication?"   
  
"She's right here." A feminine voice floated down from the top of the staircase. "She's been taking all of her medicine and as you can see..." A pretty woman with honey colored hair appeared, holding a girl younger than Ben with wet, white-blond hair. "She's just fine."   
  
The little girl wriggled in the woman's arms, eager to get down. She calmed though when she was placed into Noin's arms. "Mommy!"   
  
Noin kissed her damp hair. "Sweetie..."   
  
Edward watched as she passed the child to Millardo after a minute. Celeste greeted him in the same way. "Hey princess", he replied, holding her close.   
  
The woman who had brought Celeste down the stairs cleared her throat and addressed the new young man. "I'm Relena Peacecraft-Yuy", she said, holding out one slender hand. "You must be Edward."   
  
He nodded and warily shook the woman's hand. Again, he found himself staring into his own eyes. Everytime he begin to doubt who this new so-called family was, he found himself looking at someone who had his eyes....and then there could be no doubt. His aunt's name struck a chord in his brain. *Peacecraft-Yuy...* He double blinked. "You're the Vice Foriegn Minister!"   
  
Relena nodded. "Yes, I am."  
  
Edward could have kicked himself for not recognizing the Peacecraft name right away and for not recognizing this woman from the moment she appeared on the stairs. There was an entire chapter in his European History book devoted to the rise and fall of the Sanq Kingdom. He had watched countless hours of this woman's speeches, both in his Current Events and Colonial History classes. Relena Peacecraft-Yuy. The former Queen of the World. His aunt.   
  
*No*, he told himself. *You are not impressed by them. Just because they're rich and powerful, yet seem so damn normal... You're here to reassure yourself that you *don't* need these people. Don't forget that.*  
  
"Nice to meet you", he said, coolly.   
  
Celeste lifted her head from her father's shoulders. "Daddy...who's that?" One little arm pointed to Edward.   
  
Edward patiently waited to see how they would answer the girl's question, although he wasn't exactly sure how to answer it himself. Millardo ended up replying with, "Edward. He's going to be staying with us for a few days."   
  
She accepted this without question. Yawning, she dropped her cheek back to Millardo's shoulder. "I'm tired, Daddy."   
  
"So are we, baby", her mother said. Looking around at the others, she forced a smile. "I think we're going to put her to bed and then retire for the night." Her gaze fell on Edward. "You're more than welcome to stay up and explore the house. There's a pool table in the study...a hot tub just off the rec room."   
  
They both sounded good, but Edward shook his head. "If someone could just show me where I'll be staying...I'll get out of your hair."   
  
Heero stepped forward. "Follow me." Without saying goodnight, Edward followed Heero up the stairs. They rounded a corner and began down a long, wide hallway lined with heavy oak doors. Pictures and portraits dotted the walls, as well as marble busts bearing the names of important Peacecraft monarchs. The house was such a contradiction. On the one hand, it was a rich, marble palace. But balancing that was the fact that it was a home. Warm, comfortable and lived-in. He didn't notice that Heero had stopped until he almost tripped over his heels.   
  
"I told Meghan to put your things in here", Heero gestured to one door. "This is the family's wing. Guest rooms are in the East wing."   
  
Edward snorted. "Is that supposed to make me feel at home?"   
  
Heero studied him carefully. Edward had the strangest feeling that this man was systematically gathering opinions and information about him and storing them away for future use...much like a human hard drive. "Do you want to?"   
  
"Feel at home?" He shrugged. "Look...you seem cool. The Vice Foreign Minister too. And you have a pool table. But I'm not thinking about settling in. I have a life in America and plane ticket to get back there. So don't get used to seeing me around." He pushed open the door Heero had indicated.   
  
"Goodnight", his uncle said before the door slammed closed.   
  
****  
  
"He hates us."   
  
Millardo ran his fingers across the length of his wife's arm, still damp from their lovemaking only minutes earlier. Sighing, he pulled her back closer to his bare chest. "I don't think he hates us, Lu. He's just...confused. We dumped an awful lot onto him very quickly."   
  
She didn't reply for a moment. "I know. We have to give him time." Sighing, she tilted her head back until it rested in the crook of his chin. "I don't know what I was expecting. A TV reunion, I guess. You know, tears, declarations of love...that sort of thing."   
  
"He agreed to come here, didn't he?"   
  
"Yes." Noin shivered as his fingers continued to trace patterns on her still overly sensitized skin. "I hope he'll let us get to know him." A stray tear slipped down her cheek; she was glad he couldn't see it. "He's wonderful, isn't he? He looks just like you."   
  
Millardo smiled and mouthed the side of her neck. "But he has your hair."   
  
She twisted her body until she was facing him again. "We made someone very special." Her eyes clouded. "But we really can't take much responsibility for him, can we? He isn't who he is because of us."   
  
"Hey..." Her husband caught her chin and gave her a long kiss. "He's still got a bit of growing to do."   
  
"But will he let us be in on it?"   
  
He raised his bare shoulders. "I suppose we'll have to earn his trust. And maybe someday, his love."   
  
Noin inched closer to him. "And what about Celeste?"  
  
"Let's cross that bridge when we come to it."   
  
****  
  
The bridge he spoke of came two days later.   
  
Edward was in the study showing Ben how to play pool, having nothing else to do after breakfast on a Saturday morning. Ben's sister, Victoria, sat in a chair near the table, watching them carefully. Unlike her brother who could talk a mile a minute, Victoria was on the quiet side, choosing her words from her limited vocabulary with extreme caution and then only speaking them in a very soft tone. He was pretty sure it was just him though, being a stranger in the house.   
  
"Okay." Edward lifted the boy up to the pool table's edge and laid him on his stomach. Holding him in place with one hand to his back, he helped Ben grasp the pool cue. The boy's little legs flailed in the air behind him. "Hold your fingers like...that." He worked Ben's small fingers into the right position around the cue. "Now...just pull the cue back like this..." Together they slid it back. "And then...shoot!"   
  
Ben watched as the black ball he hit with the white ball shot towards the corner and disappeared into the table. "Did I win??"   
  
"Sure", Edward lied. "Great job, kid." He let Ben wriggle back to the floor. The boy's nose barely cleared the top of the table. He sighed and looked at the colored balls that still remained on the table; he had forgotten how bad he was at pool. "You don't have a basketball court around here, do you?"   
  
Ben nodded emphatically. "It's next to the tennis court. Only Dad and Mr. Duo ever use it."   
  
"Great." Edward gathered the balls into the racket and replaced the pool cue. "Think you can take me on, one on one?"   
  
Victoria squirmed out of her chair and primly straightened her skirt. "You're very much bigger than Benji", she said softly.   
  
"Got me there, kid. Wouldn't exactly be fair, would it?" Edward sighed. He was bored out of his mind. The gods must have been listening. Just then, the communicator set into the wood wall of the study beeped. He paused, thinking someone in another part of the house would answer. When it beeped a second time and finally, a third, he answered it.   
  
A girl, perhaps only a year or two younger than him, appeared on the screen. She had long, chestnut colored hair braided over her shoulder and wide, violet eyes. Ben and Victoria ran to the communicator. "Abby!", they cried.   
  
"Hey you two", the girl replied warmly. Her gaze returned to Edward. "Well, I know have the right house. But I'm afraid I don't know you."   
  
"Oh...um..." Edward scratched the back of his head. "I'm...um...well, I'm..."  
  
"His name is Edward. He's *sixteen*!! He's staying with us for awhile!", Ben rattled off.   
  
The girl smiled pleasantly. "Does Edward have a last name?" No one answered her question. Ben because he did not know.....Edward for almost the same reason. "Well...it's nice to meet you, Edward. I'm Abby Maxwell. Are Mr. Heero or Miss Relena there?"   
  
"Mommy's sick. Daddy said her head hurts", Victoria informed the older girl.   
  
Ben nodded in affirmation. "And then Uncle Millardo said he just bet that Dad could make it go away. So I guess Dad's making Mommy take medicine. The pink stuff, probably." The boy spoke with all the knowledge of a pharmacist.   
  
Abigail blushed. "Oh...well....better not disturb them." She looked back at the new boy. "Could you just tell them that I called to thank them for the earrings?"   
  
Edward nodded. His tongue didn't seem to be working right. "Yeah...yeah. I can...do..um..that."   
  
The girl smiled again. Her heart-shaped face lowered for a moment. "Thanks. Hope to see you around, Edward."   
  
"Um...you too...I guess." He waited until the screen went blank before he slapped his forehead. *You babbling idiot! You'd think you'd never seen a girl before!!*  
  
"Does that hurt?", Ben asked, pointing to Edward's forehead. "When you hit your head, does it hurt?"   
  
Edward nodded. "A lot. So don't do it." Brushing off the embarassing encounter with one of the prettiest girls he had ever met, Edward left the study with Ben and Victoria right on his heels. "Say...how come your cousin's never downstairs?", he asked the children.   
  
Ben became quiet. "Celeste's very sick. She doesn't get to play with us. And she has to take a lot of medicine. It's not even the pink stuff...just a lot of pills."   
  
The older boy knelt on the marble floor. "What's wrong with her?"  
  
"She has bad blood", Ben replied. "She has to get shots all the time. They even give her other people's blood." Some of his soberness was wearing off. "Isn't that gross??"   
  
"Yeah." Edward's brow crinkled. "That sucks."   
  
Before Ben could even open his mouth again, there was an ear-splitting scream from upstairs. Without thinking, Edward bolted up the stairs, leaving the children to struggle on their own. When he reached the residence wing, he saw Heero and Relena burst out of their room, hastily dressed and slightly flushed.   
  
"What's going on?", Relena asked. Edward shrugged. He had no idea what room the scream had come from. The only rooms he knew were the one he was staying in and now, Heero and Relena's. There was another, lower pitched cry.   
  
"It's coming from Celeste's room", Heero declared. He walked down the hallway a bit until he reached another door. Edward followed unconciously. When Heero kicked the door in, both men caught their breath at what lay inside.   
  
Noin was holding her daughter's impossibly pale body, shaking her ever so slightly. She looked up at the doorframe. "Heero?" Her eyes pleaded with her brother in law. "She's not breathing."   
  
Edward stepped to the side to allow Relena in. Heero had already taken Celeste and had his ear pressed to her little chest. "Her heart's beating", he announced. "And she is breathing. Only not very well." He looked at Noin. "Is this a side-effect of her medication? Shallow breath?"   
  
"No", Noin whispered.   
  
"Relena, get the car. Let's not even waste time with an ambulance." Heero continued to cradle his niece. "Where's Millardo?"   
  
"He said he'd be at Headquarters", Edward supplied. The adults looked at him as though they had forgotten he was there. "Whatever that is."   
  
Relena gave the boy a smile. "We'll call him from the hospital." She ran out of the room to get the driver. Heero and Noin began to follow her with Celeste, leaving Edward behind.   
  
Ben and Victoria appeared in the room a minute later. Their blue eyes, two of the three sets of blue eyes in the house that didn't match his, were filled with tears. "Is Celeste dead?", Ben cried.   
  
"No...no." Edward drew the kid against his side. It felt very right. A brotherly act. Something family members did in times of grief...comforting one another. "She'll be fine." *She's just got to be...because I don't know her. And I want to. I want to know her.*   
  
He sighed in defeat. So much for emotional detachment.  
  
****  
  
It was several hours before the house seemed to move again. During that time, Ben and Victoria were in their playroom with their nurse. It was an archaic effort...to keep the kids from worry, pain and the possibility of death. Edward envied the children their protected innocence. No one had shielded his eyes when, at eight years old, he tried to wake up his best friend, Andrew, only to find that Andrew would never wake up again.   
  
He wandered through the house aimlessly during those hours. He had the time and was restless enough to really examine the portraits and pictures lining the residence hall. His favorite, he decided, was the Polaroid of a man with braided hair and a petite woman getting married in Vegas. Eventually, he had to walk away from the wall of memories. The desire to be in one of those pictures was rising up in his throat; he had to fight it. He didn't need to be on their wall.   
  
Sighing, he started down the stairs. Just as he reached the bottom step, the door opened. Millardo Peacecraft entered the foyer. He looked up at his son; both pairs of identical eyes held concern and worry. Only one was still trying to fight the emotions.   
  
"How is she?", Edward asked, unable to stop the question from passing his lips.   
  
Millardo closed the door and started for the stairs. "They have her hooked up to a respirator so she can breathe." Walking past the boy, he continued up the staircase. Edward followed on his heels.   
  
"So, she'll be okay?"   
  
"For the time being. But it won't be long until even the forced oxygen won't circulate in her blood stream." He opened a door to his bedroom, Edward presumed. Hesitating slightly, the boy stepped into his parents room.   
  
He cleared his throat as Millardo began pack a small bag of his wife's clothes. "What's wrong with her? Ben said something about blood."   
  
"She has aplastic anemia. Her body doesn't make enough red blood cells." The older man folded a sweater into the bag.   
  
"Oh." Edward paused. "Will she get better?"   
  
Millardo stopped and looked at the boy. "She could." Breaking the stare, he moved to his wife's jewelry box and began fumbling through the little compartments.   
  
"Is there..." The boy scratched the top of his head, unsure if he really wanted to continue. "Is there anything I can...um...do?"   
  
The man paused before replying, "Yes." He seemed to find what he was looking for; Edward watched him lay a silver cross on the dressing table. Still, he didn't turn around, as though he were still looking at something in the box. Finally, he turned and picked the cross back up. "She needs a bone marrow transplant."   
  
Edward waited for the request, but it never came. Millardo zipped up the bag and started out of the room. "We're at Colin J. Hopkins Hospital", he said. "Heero and Relena should be back soon." He walked out, leaving the boy inside.   
  
Long minutes passed as Edward processed everything. His eyes roamed across the room. His parent's room. He took in the four poster bed, several articles of clothing still strewn over the burgandy cover. The dresser that was most likely Millardo's. A silver comb and a simple bottle of cologne sat on it. Lucrezia's dressing table was much more cluttered. Makeup brushes, perfumes, lotions, a lighted mirror...and the jewelry box that still lay open. He didn't want to snoop, but found he couldn't help himself. He wanted to know more about the woman who gave birth to him...and then gave him away. Slowly, he walked towards his mother's things.   
  
He picked up the first bottle his fingers touched. Opening the cap, he lifted it to his nose. Roses. He set it back and reached for another. Lavender. The process repeated until he had learned all of his mother's fragrances. Edward ran his fingers over the cool plane of the mirror and down to the beautifully lacquered jewelry box. Necklaces and bracelets spilled out from it; Millardo had been in a hurry looking for his wife's cross. But something else caught Edward's eye. Something that was definitely not a piece of jewelry.   
  
With trembling fingers, Edward picked up a tiny picture from the velvet of one of the boxes compartments. He didn't have to stop to wonder who the baby in the photo was. He examined it closely. The edges were worn as though it had been constantly held. He turned it over and saw a date printed on the back. February 10, 195. His birthday. He had never known before that moment; John F. Kennedy threw a party one day a year to celebrate all of the unknown birthdays. The ink used to write the date was smudged and tear-stained.   
  
Closing the picture up in his hand, Edward let his own tears fall.  
  
***  
  
Heero found him an hour later, folded up in an overstuffed chair in the drawing room, his head resting between his knees, staring out the floor length window. He didn't glance up when he felt the other man's presence. After a few minutes of silence, Heero began to speak.   
  
"When I was only a few months old, my mother gave me away", Heero said. Edward looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes. "I eventually met her though. Only she didn't come looking for me; I sought her out. And when I found her..." Heero raised his shoulders. "I might as well have been a stranger on the street to her."   
  
Edward laid his cheek back onto his knee. "That really sucks."   
  
His uncle nodded. "I was twenty-four. A lot older than you. I didn't need her." He paused. "You need them."  
  
"And they need me." Edward sighed. "I don't know what to do."   
  
"Tell you what." Heero walked towards the boy. "I'll drive you to the hospital. Maybe things will be clearer there."   
  
Edward nodded. Then, he seemed to change his mind and shook his head. "No...no...I can't give in. I can't give them what they want." He could feel Heero waiting for him to go on. "If I give them what they want...then they won't need me anymore."   
  
"What happened to not sticking around for very long?"   
  
The boy stared at the Manor's lawn through the window. "I don't know what to do", he repeated.   
  
"My offer still stands."   
  
Finally, Edward looked back at him. "Don't you get it? They won't need me anymore!" His gaze returned to the window. "In the orphanage, the kids who were up for adoption used to be so worried about being needed. They used to make up things they could do just to impress the people looking to adopt. How quiet they could be, how good they were at sweeping floors, that sort of thing. Andrew...my friend...he even told people he knew how to juggle. Like that was going to get him placed faster." Edward stopped before telling the rest of the story. How Andrew had caught pneumonia and died in the orphanage he had lived in all of his life. "I got spared all of that 'cause I had a benefactor. So, I've never had this crazy obsession about being needed." He failed to keep a stray tear at bay. "Until now."   
  
There was a pause. "I'm not here to tell you what you should do. But I don't think you're the sort of person who could stand by and let someone die. Especially not someone you could save." Heero lifted his car keys from his pocket. "You can drive."   
  
Edward cleared his throat and wiped his eyes. "I don't have a license."   
  
Heero shrugged carelessly. "Neither do I."   
  
The corners of the boy's mouth lifted. He stood on slightly shaky legs. "Convertible?"   
  
"Of course."   
  
His uncle threw him the keys and Edward caught them expertly. "Cool."  
  
****  
  
Up and down. Up and down. Noin watched the rubber compressor rise and fall, forcing breath through Celeste's fragile body. It was hypnotic; she had been staring at it continuously in the ten minutes since Millardo had gone to get some much needed coffee. Across the room, Relena sat reading a magazine. As Noin blinked herself out of her trance and watched closely for a minute, she could tell that her sister in law had not flipped a page in a quite awhile. The magazine was merely a distraction.  
  
Feeling Noin's gaze on her, Relena lifted her tear-stained face. "Anything?"   
  
"She's asleep", Noin replied. "I'm glad...it's easier than her being awake and having that thing jammed down her throat."   
  
Relena nodded and looked back down at her magazine before setting it aside. "Heero's been gone for awhile."   
  
Her sister in law took Celeste's little hand into hers. "Maybe he got caught in traffic."   
  
"Maybe." Relena stood up. "Or maybe he's talking to Edward."   
  
Noin glanced back at the other woman. "Relena...you didn't ask Heero to try and convince Edward to..."  
  
"No. No...anything Heero might say to Edward would be entirely of his own volition." Relena approached Celeste's side and took her other limp hand. "He cares about his niece." She smiled. "Even if she is my brother's child."   
  
"I know." Noin let herself return the smile. The animosity between their husbands had cooled over the years into the family's private joke....brought up at holidays and the occasional light teasing. Which wasn't to say the two men were the best of friends or even particurally close, but they could have a beer in the study together and manage to only compete at the pool table. Her smile faded. "I just don't want anyone to pressure Edward into anything. If he feels like he's being used....we'll lose him."   
  
Relena spoke after a minute. "He's a good kid. He'll make the right choice."   
  
"How can you be so sure?"   
  
"Because..." Relena tilted her head to the side. "He's your kid." A knock on the door broke the moment. Relena let go of Celeste's hand. "I guess Millardo needs some help with the coffee." She went to answer the door. When it opened, she took a step back. "Heero..." She paused. "Edward."   
  
Noin's head swung around. "Edward?"   
  
Without any prodding, Edward stepped past Heero and into the room. "Hey." His gaze swept over the little girl hooked up to a myriad of machines. "I came to see her."   
  
There was a second of silence before Heero gently took his wife's arm and led her out into the hallway, closing the door behind them. Noin took a little breath and smiled at her son. "Thank you for coming."   
  
"Has she gotten any better?", the boy asked. She shook her head ever so slightly. "Um...he told me she needs an operation. A transplant?"   
  
Without having to ask who had told him this, Noin nodded. "Yes, she does."   
  
Once more, Edward waited for the request. But once more, it did not come. A strange thread of pain weaved its way around his heart, squeezing as though to remind him of how dangerously close he was to actually caring about what these people thought of him. Sucking air into his lungs, Edward plunged ahead. There was no sense in trying to keep the upper hand any longer. "I am her brother....right?"   
  
"You are her brother." Noin's voice was soft; she touched the cross she had sent Millardo home for that now hung around her slender neck. "Biologically, anyways."   
  
Edward felt a scowl settle onto his forehead. "It's not my fault that I don't know her." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wished he could retract them.   
  
But his mother simply shook her head. "Of course it's not your fault. It's not your father's fault either." She turned back to look at Celeste. "Any fault here is mine."   
  
He expected her to go on. When she didn't, he asked the question that had been on his mind for sixteen years. "Why did you give me up?", he whispered. She turned her head around; her purplish eyes shimmered with tears. Seeing them made his own well up once more. "You said you loved me... Were you lying?" Noin opened her mouth, but he pressed on. "'Cause if you loved me, why didn't you want me?"   
  
"Oh, Edward..." Noin stood up and walked to her son. "I wasn't lying." She reached up to wipe away his tears. "And I did want you. But..." Her chin wobbled slightly. "I wasn't at a point in my life where I could keep you. Or take care of you like you deserved to be taken care of." Noin's head lowered. "I have killed men in battle. I've watched my own soldiers die in my arms. But losing you...letting you go...was the hardest thing I've ever had to do."   
  
Edward glanced down at her cross. "What about him?"   
  
"If he had known about you...nothing would have stopped him from finding you." Noin smiled. "He's always been stronger than me.  
  
"I wouldn't say that." Millardo's voice came from the doorway. Neither his wife nor his son had even heard him come in. He set the coffee cups down and joined them. "Don't let her fool you, Edward. Your mother has always been stronger than she gave herself credit for being." He touched Noin's cheek adoringly. "She's always been my strength."   
  
Edward glanced back and forth between his parents. "You didn't just come looking for me to save her life, did you?" They both shook their heads. "So...you need me?"   
  
"We want you", Millardo replied.   
  
A grin he couldn't explain spread onto his youthful face. "Okay." A happy blush colored his cheeks. "I guess it wouldn't be so bad to play family."   
  
Noin pressed her side against her husband and reached for her son's hand. Millardo cleared his throat. "Just playing family?"   
  
Edward scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Well...I still have a lot of questions that you owe me answers to. And I don't know you all very well. But I'd like to hear the answers...and I want to get to know you."   
  
Millardo lowered his gaze briefly. "We want to get to know you, too."   
  
"Sounds like a family to me", Noin said happily.   
  
The boy glanced back at the still figure of his sister. "And families help each other, right?" He took a breath. "I want to help her. I can help her, can't I?"   
  
"You're the only one", Millardo replied. "But are you sure? If you don't want to, we won't hold it against you."   
  
"Why wouldn't I want to help her? She's my sister." Edward smiled. "My very own little sister." *I'm going to save you, kid. And when you get better, I'm going to a great big brother.*  
  
****  
  
"Okay, Edward. This is what we're going to do." Dr. Williams adjusted the oxygen tube running under the boy's nose. "We're going to put you under general anesthesia. Then we're going to cut into your hip and take marrow from what's called your iliac bone, basically just your upper hip bone. We'll stitch you up and your part of the surgery will be over. Do you understand?"   
  
Edward lifted his hand from the guerney and made a thumbs up sign. The doctor stepped back; his face was replaced by Millardo and Noin. He looked up at his parents and gave them a loopy grin from the pure oxygen he had been breathing while being prepped for the surgery. "Where's Celeste?", he asked.   
  
Noin touched the paper cap covering his dark hair. "They're prepping her. As soon as you're done, she's got a long surgery ahead of her. In fact, you'll probably be awake before she's even out of it."   
  
"Then I can see her when she wakes up." Edward smiled. "Okay doc", he addressed Dr. Williams. "Let's get this show on the road. I want to watch the football game tonight."   
  
The doctor smiled and signaled to the orderlies. "See you in the OR", he said as the boy was wheeled away. Beside him, Noin waved to her son. Millardo raised his hand. When the guerney disappeared through the swinging doors, Dr. Williams turned to the couple. "I need to go get scrubbed. But when Edward's surgery is done, I'll come give you an update before we start on Celeste."   
  
"Thank you", Noin said gratefully. "We'll be here." Smiling once more, the doctor left.   
  
Millardo let out a sigh. "Nothing to do now but wait."   
  
"Yeah..." Noin intwined her arm with his. "I thought the hard part was over. All those DNA tests...waiting to see if he really was a match..." She echoed her husband's sigh. "But now the *real* hard part is just beginning, isn't it?"   
  
His lips pressed a kiss into her hair. "We made it this far."   
  
Noin tilted her head up to capture his mouth with hers. "Just like you said. You and I."   
  
"With a little help from the kids?"   
  
She grinned. "Maybe just a little."   
  
****  
  
The first thing Edward saw as he began to come around was his mother. All the little parts of his heart that had been empty for sixteen years were filled in that moment. He had a mother. She was by his side...she wanted to be the first thing he saw when he woke up. She cared.   
  
He was loved.   
  
"Zechs...he's waking up." Her voice was happy. Relieved. He closed his eyes again for a second and when he reopened them, Millardo's face was next to Noin's, looking down at him. His father was there too.   
  
Edward grinned. "Hey", he whispered. His brain was still so foggy.   
  
Noin touched a lock of his hair. "Hey", she replied. "We were starting to get worried about you."   
  
He wanted to sit up, but something told him that wouldn't be a good idea. There wasn't much pain, only a dull throbbing in his upper hip. It was enough to keep him still. "Why?"  
  
"You were out a lot longer than they said you'd be." Millardo paused. "Celeste's already in recovery."  
  
Edward wet his lips. "How is she?"   
  
"She made it through. It'll take a couple of weeks to make sure, but..." Noin bit her lip in an effort to keep her excitement at bay. "I think she's going to be all right from now on. And you...you're going to be just fine, too."   
  
He nodded and shifted on the bed. A sharp pain shot through his leg and he winced. Breathing heavily, he smiled as best he could. "I better get a great scar out of this."   
  
"I hope you don't", Noin said honestly. "There's enough scars in this family!"   
  
Edward shrugged loopily. "I read somewhere that you can look at a scar and see something that was wounded or you can look at a scar and see something that's been healed. Don't ask me where though...'cause my leg hurts and I want to go back to sleep."  
  
Noin laughed and leaned in to kiss his forehead. "You really are a smart kid."   
  
"Oh...I know." His blue eyes closed. "G'night Mom. Dad..."  
  
He was asleep before Noin's joyful tears even touched his cheek.  
  
****  
  
"They're here!! They're here!!!!!" Ben ran through the foyer on a mission much like Paul Revere's midnight ride. Only Edward imagined Paul Revere couldn't have been nearly as loud in announcing the British troops arrival as his cousin was announcing the arrival of the people Edward had been told were old family friends.   
  
He still had to smile at that. Cousin. Family friend. He had cousins and a family who had friends. Three weeks living at the Peacecraft Manor and he still wasn't used to it. His new life still had the power to sneak up and surprise him.   
  
A little blond girl appeared at the top of the stairs. Edward looked up at his sister and smiled broadly. Careful of his still-healing hip, he walked up the stairs and scooped her up. "You are supposed to be in bed", he told her in his brother voice.   
  
Celeste beamed at him. "They're here!" Her little arm wrapped around his neck. "Mr. Duo and Miss Hilde and Abby and Ruthie and Tommy and Adam and Eve and Mr. Trowa and Mr. Quatre and 'Mani and Mr. Wufei and Miss Sally and Lin and Jade..." She paused.   
  
"Sure you got everyone, kid?" He raised an eyebrow at her.   
  
"Um...." Celeste thought for another second before nodding emphatically. "Everyone!"   
  
Edward smiled. "What about Uncle Heero and Aunt Relena? They went to get everyone."  
  
"But we see them everyday!", Celeste reminded him.   
  
"Good point."   
  
"She's up again?" Millardo joined them on the landing, shaking his head at his daughter. "I don't suppose she'd stay in bed if we brought everyone to her, would she?"   
  
Noin followed him, fastening an earring. "You could tie her down and she wouldn't stay in bed. I say let her have fun."   
  
"I'm with Mom", Edward passed Celeste to his father. His hip was throbbing again. Truth be told, he wished he could spend a little downtime in bed. Not only was he still in a bit of pain, but he was more than a little nervous about meeting all the new people who would enter the house at any minute. Did they know who he was? Would he have to sit through countless explainations....having to rehash all the history he and his parents were trying so hard to overcome?   
  
Would they like him?  
  
The front doors swung open without warning. A stream of people and a dozen conversations flooded the Manor.   
  
"....chemistry should be outlawed, Miss Relena. I'm never going to use it..."  
  
"Amani...don't get that lollipop near your dad's bangs..."   
  
"...swear to god it wasn't me, Wufei!! I wouldn't touch your..."  
  
"...should think about it, Heero. It's completely worth it..."  
  
"Thomas! Let go of your sister's braid!!"   
  
"The Preventers don't need me, Sally. At least not..."  
  
"...where's Ben? I gotta show him Mortal Death..."  
  
"....ever going to grow up, Maxwell?"  
  
"But chemistry can be a lot of fun, Abby..."  
  
"Not if I can help it!"  
  
"...damnit. Help me get this out of my hair, Quatre..."   
  
"I sowry, Daddy..."   
  
"...underestimate your value, Heero...  
  
"Don't listen to her, Miss Relena. Abby doesn't ever do anything wrong..."  
  
"...is okay, Amani. Just be careful, baby..."  
  
"You're such a jealous..."   
  
"Abby...Ruth....do I have to seperate you?"   
  
"...I suppose we'll just have to see. If the Preventers..."  
  
"No, Daddy....we're fine..."   
  
"Look out, Trowa..."  
  
"See? I can be grown up, Wufei..."  
  
"...give Daddy the lollipop, Amani..."  
  
"Hmph."   
  
A small, dark haired woman carrying a little girl with equally dark, braided hair was the first to notice the four people at the top of the stairs. "Hey!", she waved happily.   
  
All eyes were on him. Edward could feel it. Never one to shy away from the spotlight, he took a breath and followed his family as they made their way down to the crowd of adults and children below. Ben and Victoria appeared and slipped into the mass of bodies.   
  
A man Edward recognized from the Polaroid in the hallway stepped foward. "Look at that healthy girl!" He pointed to Celeste.   
  
Edward felt his sister's smile from even a few feet away. "Mr. Duo!" She reached for the braided man.   
  
Duo took her and gave her a long hug. "Hey squirt."   
  
Celeste made the rounds, unintentionally introducing Edward to everyone as she squealed the names of each new person she was passed to. Even the rather stoic looking Chinese man named Wufei took a turn, balancing both Celeste and his own daughter in his arms for a brief moment.   
  
The woman named Hilde held Celeste for a few long seconds. "She's really okay?", she asked Noin. There were tears in her eyes; Edward had to wonder why his sister's health seemed so very important to the woman. "She's going to be just fine, right?"   
  
Noin wiped the beginnings of a tear from her eye. "She's going to be better than fine."   
  
"She's going to live forever", Edward added, once again feeling all eyes on him.   
  
Relena cleared her throat delicately and gave her nephew a wink. "There's lemonade and cookies in the kitchen if everyone wants something to eat."   
  
Duo tore his curious stare away from the boy beside Noin and Millardo. "Princess...I think I speak for all the adult type people here when I ask....do you have anything stronger?"   
  
"Gin?", the woman named Sally asked, adjusting the four year old boy on her hip.   
  
"Bourbon?" Hilde Maxwell placed her body between her fueding daughters.   
  
"Whiskey?" Trowa Barton examined a sticky clump of his hair.   
  
"Iced tea?"   
  
Duo snickered. "Only you, Quat-man."   
  
"Champagne courtesy of some long dead family members", Relena announced. "Will that be all right?"   
  
"I'll get it", Heero offered. "Edward? Give me a hand?"   
  
Gratefully, Edward followed his uncle to the wine cellar. When they came back fifteen minutes and a case of champagne later, the foyer was empty. Heero walked towards the kitchen with the crate, leaving Edward behind. Sighing, he plopped down onto the bottom stair.   
  
"Ow." He touched his hip.   
  
"Are you all right?"   
  
The feminine voice so startled him that Edward shot to his feet. From around the side of the staircase, the girl from the communicator appeared. She was even prettier in person, Edward decided. Her chestnut colored hair was pulled into a ponytail; she wore jeans and a blue sweater that brought out the same hue in her violet eyes.   
  
"Um...yeah...I'm fine." As if to prove it, he slapped his hip and tried not to cry out in pain. "Just a little bit of surgery."   
  
"I heard." The girl fiddled with a locket around her neck. "I heard my mom talking to Miss Noin one day. You saved Celeste's life, didn't you?"   
  
Edward shrugged non-chalantly. "It's not a big deal." He gave her a lop-sided grin. "You do the same for your sister, right?"   
  
"It would depend on how mad I was at her that day." Abigail smiled. "I think you did a wonderful thing."   
  
"Thanks", he mumbled. There was awkward silence. "So..."   
  
"So...you remember me? Abby?" When he nodded, she continued. "And you're Edward with no last name, right?"   
  
"Oh no." Edward shook his head. "Not anymore."   
  
"Really?" Abigail gave him a curious look that mirrored her father's. "Then I guess I'll have to introduce myself again." She held out her hand. "Abigail Maxwell. And you are...?"   
  
He took her hand into his gently. "Edward. Edward Peacecraft."   
  
She blinked. "Nice to meet you. Edward Peacecraft."   
  
Edward grinned and gave her a hearty wink. "It's nice to be met."   
  
There were still questions to be answered and introductions to be made. A lifetime of lonliness was not easily brushed aside and forgotten. *But*, Edward thought as he followed the pretty girl to the kitchen. *I'm home.* They passed by a new portrait of the now eight members of the Peacecraft-Yuy household hanging in the hall between the parlor and the foyer. *And...I have the picture to prove it.*  
  
~~~~~  
  
Thanks for taking the time to read my story. This is the fourth in the "Family Life" series and there will be one more part;) Stay tuned... 


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